Shame to see the tour go ahead with the current situation in Zimbabwe but good luck to the Black Caps either way - should post easy wins against the home side, at least we'll get some competition from India.

Trevor has what it takes to do well, he's kind of like a poor man's Mark Richardson, which is not bad, and he also bowls offspin. I would have Brendan Taylor opening with him but as he's been banned I think Barney has to be the guy, although I am basing that on good ODI performances. They might go with Charles Coventry, who had a great A series against Pakistan A. Dion has to stay in the side, obviously Stuart with his two centuries, Hamilton with his class and technique. Here's where it gets interesting. Wishart is a very good player but he's getting older, so they could go with Elton who can bowl as well. Tatenda obviously as captain, Heath for the obvious, same for Andy. Douggie has done well in Bangladesh recently, and has a good average for a Zimbok, finally Cremer definately has some potential.

There are quite a few players the ZC might go with as well, including;

Doug Marillier- He's in Zimbabwe but I don't think he wants to play internationals, if he does then he should definately play, and open instead of Rogers.

Sean Williams, Tino Mawoyo, Terry Duffin- three young bats with some promise. Mawoyo is Zim U19 captain, Duffin has made national squads before.

Craig Ervine- Sean's brother, quite a promising allrounder in the mould of Sean.

CJ Chibhabha- very promising allrounder, bowls medium-fast with quite a bit of movement

Blessing Mahwire, Ed Rainsford, Mluleki Nkala, Chris Mpofu- Mpofu in the front of this lot who should be the back up if needed.

Anthony Ireland- Medium-fast but erratic Midlands seamer who did quite well in the A series.

There are lots of guys about the same level in Zimbabwe which is the problem really, I could name loads more guys they might try but it's unlikely they'd do any better than my side.

Zimbabwe will lose, obviously, mostly by big margins but, and it's only a but, this side could be stronger than the team on the SA tour.

Jesse Ryder is being eyed as a potential New Zealand opener at the 2007 cricket World Cup in the West Indies.

The revelation came yesterday from selector Sir Richard Hadlee after Ryder was named in a powerful New Zealand A team to tour Sri Lanka.

The 5½ week tour includes three four-day "tests" and a one-day tri-series involving South Africa A.

Hadlee confirmed Ryder's performances for the New Zealand Emerging Players in Brisbane recently had sealed his selection for Sri Lanka where the New Zealand A team will be co-coached by Wellington's Vaughn Johnson and Auckland's Mark O'Donnell.

A World Cup call-up was not out of the question if the left-hander could kick on from Brisbane, said Hadlee, who was also team manager.

"He's seen as a possible World Cup option," Hadlee said. "He's got lovely hand-eye co-ordination, hits the ball hard and he's left-handed which gives him another asset.

"He scored 350-odd runs in Brisbane at an average in the mid 40s opening the innings, and was scoring at close to a run a ball.

"The World Cup's only 18 months down the track now and if he really kicks on, he's a chance. We just need to analyse his game sense so the more we can see him at the top level, the better."

Hadlee said the tour also provided Wellington offspinner Jeetan Patel with a chance to kick on from the Black Caps' tour of Zimbabwe next month.

His ability to bowl darts at the death have the selectors eyeing him as long-term back-up to Daniel Vettori and a possible block-hole bowler on the low, slow pitches expected in the West Indies.

The International Cricket Council's experiment with new one-day laws allowing for substitutions meant New Zealand Cricket was particularly keen to groom a pool of quality allrounders, Hadlee said.

It also provided a chance for test specialist Chris Martin to be reintroduced to the one-day game as he could bowl and then be substituted by a batsman.

Hadlee said Iain O'Brien's selection was a chance for him to bowl alongside the likes of Martin and Daryl Tuffey and was a reminder he had not been forgotten after his call-up to the Black Caps late last summer.

Others in that category were Central Districts batsman Mathew Sinclair and Canterbury opener Michael Papps who were overlooked for Zimbabwe.

Chris Harris is being taken to Sri Lanka to see if he has recovered from a shoulder injury sufficiently to be selected for the upcoming tour of South Africa.

even though there has been debate whether this tour should go ahead, i am still looking foward to it even though the zimbabwe team might not be much of an opposition.

i am really looking foward to the return of bond, oram and styris. although i am not expecting oram to do a lot of bowling as from the articles i read he seems to be remodelling his technique a bit, though zimbabwe i think are an excellent opposition to practice this against.

also looking foward to seeing how hamish marshall goes and whether he can continue his form out of nz.

even though there has been debate whether this tour should go ahead, i am still looking foward to it even though the zimbabwe team might not be much of an opposition.

i am really looking foward to the return of bond, oram and styris. although i am not expecting oram to do a lot of bowling as from the articles i read he seems to be remodelling his technique a bit, though zimbabwe i think are an excellent opposition to practice this against.

also looking foward to seeing how hamish marshall goes and whether he can continue his form out of nz.

does anyone know whether we are getting coverage on sky over here?

I just rang Sky. The customer service said it is too far away as far as scheduled programming goes, so will have to check closer to the time. We showed it the last time we toured Zimbabwe so i don't see why it would change. I will be very annoyed if Sky don't get the rights to screen it, as im sure alot of us would be as well.

I just rang Sky. The customer service said it is too far away as far as scheduled programming goes, so will have to check closer to the time. We showed it the last time we toured Zimbabwe so i don't see why it would change. I will be very annoyed if Sky don't get the rights to screen it, as im sure alot of us would be as well.

Thanks Andrew, that's quite interesting that they haven't scheduled it in yet as the first test is in just over 2 weeks. Unless they aren't going to bother with the tests and are going to just get coverage of the one day series. I think that Wads is going over tho, so if Sky doesn't cover the tests we should get some coverage.